VFAST Transactions on Islamic Research http://vfast.org/journals/index.php/VTSE@ 2014 ISSN(e): 2309-6519; ISSN(p): 2411-6327 Volume 2, Number 1, January-December, 2014 pp. 63–-69

EMERGENCE AND EXPANSION OF ISLAM: WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIAN MUSLIM RELATIONS IN EARLY CENTURIES ADAM MALIK KHAN1 Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (UP) 202002 INDIA

wrote letters to various heads ﷺ Abstract:With the establishment of Islamic state Prophet Muhammad of the states and chiefs of the tribes and invited them to embrace Islam. The expansion of Islam himself that ﷺ especially in Christian world was started during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad continued in later centuries. Under the pious caliphate the Christian land of Syria, Palestine, , , Azerbaijan, Armenia, parts of Asia Minor and some European islands came under Muslim control. In this period the Muslim navy was built, ending the Roman supremacy on sea. Expansion of Islamic world both in the East and the West was accomplished under Umayyad and Muslim armies attempted thrice to conquer Constantinople, the Byzantine capital. The consolidation of Muslim power was completed by Abd al- Malik by defeating and crushing the joint Roman and Berber army, further annexing North Africa. Along with Sindh and Central Asia, the Christian Spain was conquered and ruled for about eight centuries by various dynasties. The hostility between Abbasid and Byzantine was resumed by caliph al- Mahdi and continued till Mu’tasim. Many Byzantine areas of Asia Minor were invaded, and were also forced to pay tribute. Keeping in view the enmity with Umayyad of Spain the Abbasid established friendly relations with the Franks. Under Aghlabid Muslim rule was further expanded to Sicily, parts of Italy and many European Islands. In response of the Muslim supremacy over the Christians and due to the Muslim threat to the Byzantine Empire along with the other reasons the Christians of Europe united on the call of Pope Urban II and started crusade war in 1095 against the Muslims of the East. They conquered the various areas of the Arab East and established their Christian states there. In the Eight crusade wars fought on the Arab Land between the Muslims and Christians the later wars were either fruitless for the Christians or were in favour of the Muslims. The Zangid, the Ayyubid and the Mamluks proved to be the champions who not only defeated the crusaders but also re-conquered their lost areas. Finally these crusaders were driven out of the Arab land by the Mamluks in 1291 marking an end of Crusade wars. Keywords: Roman, Sassanid, Umayyad, Abbasid, Asia Minor, Crusade, Berber, Byzantine, Kahina, Visigothic, Saljuq, Clermont, Iberian, Murabit, Muwahhid, Safavid, Zangid, Ayyubid, Mamluk.

Introduction: The year 610 is supposed to be most important in the history of mankind, when Allah, the Almighty and the most pious soul, the most honest personality and the most humane on ,ﷺ Sustainer of the Universe chose Muhammad earth as His last messenger and started revealing His last book that is known in the whole world with the name of Qur’ān. was declared as the last in the series of His messengers by Almighty Allah that started from Prophet ﷺ Prophet Muhammad was to invite the mankind towards His Unity and the ﷺ Adam . The first task assigned by Allah to Prophet Muhammad started inviting the people towards Islam and ﷺ himself. Accordingly Prophet Muhammad ﷺ Prophethood of Muhammad was to counter ﷺ propagating its teachings among the whole mankind. First challenge before Prophet Muhammad who, being bitter enemies of Islam, attacked Madina many times to put this new religion to an end. The Quraysh of Makkah not only failed in their motive but lost their own dominant city to the hands of the Muslims. After the conquest of Makkah and his companions in 630 most of the Makkans including the Qurayshites embraced Islam and ﷺ by Prophet Muhammad became a part of Muslim Ummah. In this way the Prophet of Islam became the head of the newly established state that comprised of the cities of Makkah, Madinah and some parts of Arabian Peninsula with Madina as Islamic seat of government. At the time of the emergence of Islam a major part of the world was under Christianity, more especially under sent his emissaries to ﷺ Roman Empire. As the head of the Islamic Sate and the messenger of Allah Prophet Muhammad various heads of the states and tribal chiefs including the Sasanid ruler of Iran and Roman Emperor to embrace Islam.

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Although the Roman Emperor did not accept Islam but he, unlike the Sassanid ruler, treated the Muslim envoy generously.1 In this way the Muslims came into contact with these Christians together with those Christians who were living with them in the heartland of Arabia. Although the Christians were the masters of a vast area in Asia, Europe and Africa but they supposed the rising power of the Muslims a threat to their rule and Christianity as well. These areas included Syria, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa, Asia Minor, Spain, Sicily, Italy and some European islands like Cyprus, Rhodes and others that came under Muslim control in a short span of time. In retaliation to these Muslim expansionist policy the first Muslim- Christian encounter took place at Mauta in 629, in which the small Muslim army suffered loss and had to retreat before a ﷺ large Roman army led by Theodorus.2 The second encounter between the Muslims led by the Prophet Muhammad himself and the Romans, led by Heraclius was to take place at Tabuk, a place at Syrian border but the battle could not be fought because the Roman leader got frightened of the advance of the Muslim army of about 40,000 and retreated from there.3 However the hostility between the two religious communities prevailed for long for the one’s superiority over the other. In addition to the Christians there were two major enemies of Islam, the Quraysh and the Jews. But as has been mentioned above the Quraysh came under the banner of Islam after the conquest of Makkah who, earlier, openly opposed and attacked Madinah, the first capital Muslim State many times. The Jews who were living inside ﷺ Prophet Muhammad They, having hatred towards .ﷺ Madinah , were one among the signatories of the agreement with the Prophet Muhammad Islam and Muslims in their hearts, played treacherous role with the Muslims. Consequently they were not only expelled .at Khaybar ﷺ from Madina but were defeated and punished by Prophet Muhammad continued in ﷺ The Muslim-Christian conflict that had been started during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad later days. The Muslim army under the command of Khalid bin Walid, not only defeated the Sassanid army at various places of Iraq but took control of a part of Syria that was being governed by the Roman Empire. The expansion of Islamic boundaries continued under the pious caliphs, during the Umayyad rule and early Abbasids. Under Umar ibn al- Khattab , the second pious caliph, the Christians were banished from Najran for their hostility towards Islam. The battle of Yarmuk fought against the Romans in 636 proved to be final supremacy of the Muslims over the Romans in the region in which the Muslim army led by Khalid bin Walid routed the enemy and their commander, Theodorus fell on the battlefield.4 After that and some other cities like Emessa, Qinissarin, Aleppo and Antioch fell before Muslims, that became parts of Muslim World forever.5 During the caliphate of Umar ibn al- Khattab Muslim army was so powerful that after the conquests of Iraq and Syria Muslim conquered Palestine after some resistance and the control over Jerusalem was handed over by the Christians to Caliph Umar ibn al- Khattab himself in 638 without any resistance after an agreement signed between the invaders and the leaders of the city.6 The conquest of Egypt began during the caliphate of Umar ibn al- Khattab in 640 when the towns of Farma, Bilbays, the fortress of Babiliyun, Memphis, Ayn Shams and Alexandria conquered.7 With these conquests Egypt became a part of Muslim World under Umar ibn al- Khattab . Although the later half of the caliphate of Uthman bin Affan passed in disturbances but the first six years of his caliphate were marvellous as in this period Muslim armies kept on marching both in the East and the West. On the one side the Christian areas of Azerbaijan, Armenia and parts of Asia Minor were annexed to the Muslim Empire and on the other a major part of North Africa was conquered. It was the period when Muslim Navy was built by Amir Mu’awiyah, the then governor of Syria with 500 ships and by this by this the naval supremacy of the Muslims over Romans was established. With the help of this navy Muslims not only captured Cyprus but re-conquered the port city of Alexandria also.8 The period of caliph Uthman bin Affan is also more important than the others as the Muslim power got more strengthened on both the land and sea with the creation of Muslim Navy. Caliph Uthman bin Affan is also credited for the conquest of North African region that was also being ruled by the Romans. After few successful campaigns into the outer areas of North Africa by Uqba ibn Nafi’, Abd Allah bin Sa’ad, the governor of Egypt himself took the command in his hands and invaded its major part including Tripoli in 646. After the conquest Abd Allah bin Sa’ad marched to North-Western areas of North Africa. This region was being governed by Gregory. In the fierce battle fought at Sabitila between Abd Allah and Gregory the enemy commander fell and the Muslim army comprising of only 40,000 warriors defeated the Roman army of 120,000.9 Muslims thus became the masters of a vast area of North Africa. at Madinah after his migration from ﷺ With the establishment of the Islamic State, by Prophet Muhammad ,ﷺ Makkah in 622 the Islamic State remained united under one banner and this unity continued under Prophet Muhammad during the period of pious caliphate (632 – 661), the (661 – 750) and under early Abbasid caliphs. However Muslim Spain never remained under the Abbasid caliphate due to the establishment of Umayyad Emirate there by Abd al- Rahman I in 756. It was for the first time that the Muslim empire started disintegrating into different semi independent and independent states and many new principalities and dynasties came into existence in different parts of the

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Muslim World. Iran, Central Asia, Egypt and North Africa were those provinces where these independent dynasties emerged. It is worth mentioning here that earlier these dynasties ruled under the sovereignty of Abbasid caliphate but later they declared their complete independence. As a result of the Muslim conquest of a vast area of the Christians in three continents of the world the crusade wars were started between Muslims and the Christians. As a result of the early crusade wars the Christians of the various parts of Europe became successful in establishing their dynasties and petty principalities in Palestine and other parts of Arab East. In these crusade wars many European countries, more especially Britain and France played important role that resulted the conquest of the Arab-East by the Christians. From that period till modern times the role of Britain and France is always seen as against Muslims and the Muslim World. The hostility between the Muslims and Christians became more deep rooted during the Umayyad caliphate. Under the Umayyads the Muslim army made several attempts to conquer Constantinople. Under the first Umayyad caliph, Mu’awiyah the Muslim army attempted two times to invade the Roman capital, Constantinople.10 The Muslim army attacked the Roman capital three times, first in 669, the second in 674 and the third in 680 during the whole Umayyad period, but due to its geographical situation it could not be succeeded. The rule of Mu’awiyah is memorable in the sense that the rest of North Africa was, not only taken under Muslim control by Uqba ibn Nafi’ but also Muslim rule was consolidated there. In 670 the city of Qayrawan was founded that later became seat of government of the province of North Africa.11 The and Romans were still source of disturbance even after North Africa was taken in order under Mu’awiyah. So Abd al- Malik bin Marwan (685-705), fifth Umayyad caliph had to divert his attention towards these turbulent Berbers and Romans. Moreover the Byzantines started raiding the Islamic border areas in Asia Minor. Abd al- Malik bin Marwan sent an army to deal with them which not only defeated the Christian army at Sebastopolis in Asia Minor but also conquered many of their areas that included the cities of Tyana, Sardis and Pargamos in 707.12 In the west, to teach a lesson to the Berbers and Romans, Abd al- Malik bin Marwan sent an army under the command of an able general Zubayr. Till this time the Romans and Berbers could not be suppressed which was the main reason of disorder there. Although Zubayr maintained peace there but unfortunately, like Uqba ibn Nafi’ he was attacked and killed at his base at Qayrawan by the Berbers while he had with him few Muslim soldiers. Abd al- Malik bin Marwan did not tolerate this incident and sent another Muslim army under the command of Hasan bin Nu’man who defeated the allied army of Berbers and Byzantines and made control over Qayrawan again. This army put the power of the Berbers and Byzantines to an end forever after defeating Kahina13 and her followers. Abd al- Malik bin Marwan, proving himself to be an intelligent and efficient Umayyad caliph, took the whole Muslim world in order that caused peace and prosperity everywhere. It is, because of this, his son and successor, Walid bin Abd al- Malik (705 – 715) enabled to conquer a vast area both in the East and West and took it under unified Muslim world. These areas included Sindh in India, conquered by Muhammad bin Qasim in 711, the whole central Asia upto the suburbs of China, conquered by Qutaybah ibn Muslim Bahili, between 705 and 715 and Spain, conquered by Tariq bin Ziyad, a Berber freed slave, between 711 and 712.14 Among these conquered areas Spain was being ruled by the Christian ruler, Roderick of Visigothic Kingdom. Under Walid bin Abd al- Malik and after him the Muslim governors and independent rulers of Spain had to fight against the Franks and at many times conquered southern France after crossing the Pyrenees between North Spain and south France but could not sustain. Although, the Muslim conquest of Iberian Peninsula in 711 – 12 was one of the brightest chapter in the but the downfall of their rule there in 1492 proved to be darkest. During their rule of about 800 years there the country passed through many phases as it was ruled by many dynasties and petty principalities. Earlier its government was run by the governors appointed by the governor-general of North Africa who was under the direct control of the Umayyad caliphs of Damascus. After the downfall of the Umayyad caliphate and the establishment of the Abbasid rule in 750 Spain came under the Abbasid. However their rule was not last long and it went under the control of a member of Umayyad family namely Abd al- Rahman I in 756. Under the Umayyads there developed in Spain all fields viz. Islamic sciences, natural sciences, language and literature, arts and architecture, trade and commerce and agriculture etc. On the one hand and on the other they always remained engaged in fighting against the Christians. In this period there were four Christian states in northern Spain namely Castile, Navarre, Leon and Aragon that always remained at war with the Umayyads. Sometimes the Muslim armies suffered loss but at most of the times these Christians states were severely defeated by the Umayyad army. After the downfall of the Umayyad rule in 1031 the country was disintegrated into several petty states and throughout this period until the emergence of the Murabit rule in 1090 there, their rulers had faced tough Christian’s armies. After the establishment of the Murabit rule there the whole of the country except some cities was consolidated under one banner. However the hostility between the Murabit rulers and the Christian states continued that, sometimes, resulted in

65 the battles between them. In 1145 Abd al- Mu’min, the Muwahhid ruler of North Africa captured Spain and hence Spain became a part of Muwahhid rule. Like the rulers of the preceding dynasties the Muwahhid continued facing the Christian opposition throughout their rule. Finally their ended after Muhammad al- Nasir was defeated in 1212 by the joint forces of the Christian states led by Alfonso VIII.15 With this the whole Iberian Peninsula except the state of Granada came under Christian control. The state of Granada remained in existence under the Nasrid rulers for about two and a half centuries but they also proved to be weak before the allied forces of the Christian states. Throughout their rule they were threatened by the joint army of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile who unified their power after getting married in 1469. After many ups and downs and infightings inside the state this rule was put to an end in 1492 by the allied army of Castile and Aragon. It is an unfortunate fact that inspite of ruling for about eight centuries Muslim could not convert Spain into a Muslim country forever. The hostile relations of the Muslims with Byzantines continued during the Abbasid caliphate also. Under Abbasids it is seen that the Christian-Muslim relation was not, sometime, on the religious line. It was rather on geographical and strategic basis. There was the severe rivalry between the Abbasids of Baghdad and the Umayyads of Spain who were coreligionists. At the same time the Byzantines and the Franks, both Christians were great rivals of each other. Under these circumstances the Abbasids and the Franks established their cordial relations with each other with the intention to use one another against their enemies.16 Under Abbasids the old rivalry between them and the Byzantines was resumed by Mahdi (875 – 885) due to the latter’s attack on the Muslim land. This rivalry continued under his successors also. In the encounters between the two the Muslim army of caliph Mahdi did not only capture some parts of Asia Minor but also forced the Byzantines to pay annual tribute of 80,000 dinars17. After the treaty was disowned by the Byzantine King Nicephorus I who ascended the Byzantine throne in 802 after his mother, Irene (797-802) demanded the return of the whole money paid to the Muslims as tribute by his predecessors, the Abbasid caliph Harun al- Rashid (768 – 809) again resumed the Muslim raids to the Byzantine land of Asia Minor and conquered many areas including Heraclea and Tyana in 806. The letter written by Nicephorus made Harun so furious that its response by Harun was very humiliating for the said Byzantine emperor. In response to this letter Harun addressed Nicephorus in the following word: “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. From Harun, the commander of the believers, to Nicephorus, the dog of the Romans. Verily I have read thy letter, O son of an infidel mother. As for the answer it shall be for thine eye to see, not for thine ear to hear. Salam”.18 A series of campaigns continued even after Harun al- Rashid, under Mamun al- Rashid (813 – 833) and Mu’tasim (833 – 842) and many areas like the city of Amorian of Asia Minor came under Muslim control. The expansion of Islamic State in the West was not restricted to Spain alone by the Muslims but the island of Sicily also came under Muslim control. Furthermore the Muslim army made various campaigns to invade Italy and its nearby islands. Before the invasion of Sicily it was, like other countries, being ruled by the Byzantines. After its invasion it was ruled by the Muslims for one hundred and eighty nine years. It was under the Aghlabid ruler of North Africa, Ziyadat al- Allah that the conquest of Sicily was started after he received an appeal from a Sicilian rebel to invade it.19 Ziyadat al- Allah found it an opportunity and sent an army of 10,000 soldiers under the command of Asad bin Furat, his vizier. However Asad bin Furat could not conquer the whole island as he and a considerable number of his soldiers died of plague that spread among them before the conquest of Sicilian capital, Syracuse. Later, with the military aid received from Spain its conquest was completed. In 831 the city of Palermo, in 843 Messina, in 878 Syracuse and in 902 Taormina came under Muslim control. With this the conquest of Sicily was completed. The Muslim rule in Sicily sometimes remained a part of North African rule and sometimes its Amirs declared their independence. During the Muslim domination over it Kalbites ruled Sicily almost independently though its founder al- Hasan ibn Ali al- Kalbi was appointed its governor by the Fatimid caliph al- Mansur in 948. The Muslim rule in Sicily was put to an end in 1091 by Roger. The conquest of Sicily gave Muslims the courage to advance further in Europe. After they crossed the Gulf of Messina from Sicily we see the Muslim-Christian conflict in Italy. During and after the Aghlabid rule Muslim forces not only raided the Italian territories but also captured many of important its cities especially Calabria, Regio, Bari and its costal land and established their rule there for sometimes.20 Bari became the base of the Muslim raids into the interior areas of Italy. Although Rome could not be conquered but Muslim warriors reached its walls and threatened it. Muslims’ strong presence in Italy may be recognised from the fact that Pope John VIII paid them tribute to save their territories from Muslim occupation.

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Along with Sicily and Italy Muslims took some more islands in the region under their control and ruled there for a considerable time. These Islands included Cyprus, Malta, Crete, Rhodes, Corsica, Sardinia and Balearic Islands that were being governed either by the Romans or by independent Christian rulers. The next wave of rivalry between the Muslims and the Christians appeared in the form of Crusade Wars. These wars that were continued for about two hundred years were fought due to many reasons i.e. the political, the commercial, the geographical and most importantly the religious.21 Jerusalem, being the birth place of Prophet Isa , was the centre of pilgrimage for Christians of all over the Christian world. But due to the rise of Saljuq power and their capture of Asia Minor it made these Christians pilgrims difficult to visit the holy city. Moreover the destruction the church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1009 by the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim where a large number of Christian pilgrims used to visit became an important cause of the crusade wars. In addition to these the Christians of Europe got encouraged with the news of their re-conquests of Muslim occupied territories of various parts of Europe due to various reasons especially their weakness, inefficiency and infightings among themselves. Being threatened by the Saljuq conquests the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus appealed the then Pope, Urban II in 1095 to make a call to the Christians including the Western rulers and their subjects to unite against the Muslims.22 As a result of this request the Pope delivered a speech in the same year at the council of Clermont to start the Holy War against the Muslims that was taken very seriously and was considered by all sections of the Christian society as “God’s Will” as Pope himself said that it was “God’s Work”.23 In this way the era of crusade wars between the Muslims and Christians was started in 1095. Here it is necessary to point out that these crusade wars that were started with religious zeal had all elements of political and personal goals. It is evident from the fact that the merchants of Pisa and Venice who had their commercial interests, the landless nobles of the West who wanted to established their own states in the east and the unlawful elements and criminals who wanted to save themselves from the iron hands of their European rulers were all part of the crusading army. It is important to mention here that Pope Urban II appealed the Christians of the West to unite against the Muslims and wage war against them he, categorically asked in his letter that the old, unfit to fight, women without their husbands or guardians, religious people without the consent of their superiors and the layman without the clerical blessings not to get involved in the Holy War as they might be hindrance in this.24 The Pope’s appeal arouses a war cry among the European Christians and involved all capables of bearing arms. This crusade army that comprised of the Christians of about all parts of Europe especially France, Germany, Italy and England started its conquest through Asia Minor after it first gathered in Bulgaria and later in Byzantine empire and defeated in 1097 the Seljuk ruler of Rum, Qilij and after capturing his capital Nicaea, established many Christian states and petty principalities in Arab land and Asia Minor. Edessa (al- Ruha) became the first Latin State under Baldwin after it was occupied in 1098. Later Antioch (Antakiya) in June 1098, Jerusalem (Yuroshalem) in 1099 and Tripoli (Tarabalus) in 1109 were made new Christian States by the crusaders in the Arabian Land. Although the wars between the Muslim rulers like Zangids (1127 – 1262), Ayyubids (1169 – 1250) and Mamluks (1250 – 1517) and the crusaders and newly established Christian states in Arab world continued throughout but surprisingly there established the social and peaceful contacts between the two religious communities. Both the communities influenced each other with their culture, civilization, customs and even religion. The Christians of the West who had, in their mind, wrong perception and concept about the Muslims and Islam adopted, very soon, their culture like dressing, cuisine, living style, learnt various sciences such as mathematics, medicine, astronomy, philosophy, logic and music from the Muslims and even their style of architecture.25 Hence it may undoubtedly be said that both the communities put their impact over each other in all walks of life on the soil in these two centuries of crusade wars. The second crusade war (1147 – 1149) was the result of the Zangid conquest of many newly occupied areas by the crusaders. It started on the call of Pope Eugenius III. Although a large Christian army reached Arab land under the command of Courad III of Germany and Louis VII of France, assisted by the army provided by Jerusalem, it had to face a tough Zangid army that made its control over Edessa (al- Ruha) in 1144, Damascus in 1154 and parts of the state of Antioch. Joscelin II, the ruler of al-Ruha, Bohemond III, the head of the state of Antioch and Raymond III of Tripoli were made captive by the brave Zangid army under Nur al- Din Zangi (1146 – 1176).26 Thus the second crusade war can not be considered as in favour of Christians. This war proved to be a turning point for the Muslims to give a tough fight to the crusaders in future. These Muslim victories were followed by the other victories over crusaders especially the Franks that included the victory at Hittin in 1187 fought against the Christian invaders by the Muslim army under Sultan Salah al- Din Ayyubi that resulted in the conquest of Jerusalem, the sacred city for the Christians, Jews and Muslims as well and other cities like Jabalah, Sihyawn, Shaqif, Arnun Kawkab, Safad and many other Syrian towns.27 In the battle of Hittin fought between Sultan Salah al- Din Ayyubi and the crusaders the Holy Cross sent to them from the Holy Sepulchre as a religious standard, was captured by the Muslim army and sent to Baghdad.28 Sultan Salah al- Din Ayyubi fulfilled wow by cutting

67 the head of Regiland who, sometimes before, made his sister captive and did not release her even on his appeal. The Muslim army wiped out the crusaders from the whole Arab land except few cities including Tripoli, Antioch, Tyre and some smaller towns that remained in their possession. These great victories shook the whole Christian Europe. The cry of revenge arose again in Latin West. At this point of time three powerful rulers of Europe, Fredrick Barbarossa of Germany, Richard I of England and Philip Augustus of France got united and started the third crusade war against the Muslim land in 1189 that ended in 1192.29 This war cannot be considered as in favour of any of the two armies except that the city of Akka was besieged by the crusaders for about two years (1189 – 1191) and that many of the Muslim prisoners were slaughtered by the English King Richard I. Interestingly this war was ended with signing an agreement between Sultan Salah al- Din Ayyubi and Richard I as a result of which Richard’s daughter was married to sultan Salah al-Din’s brother, Malik al-‘Adil who were to give the state of Jerusalem.30 After this war only some coastal cities were left under the possession of the Crusaders. These remaining Latin principalities were, later, captured by the Mamluks who came to power in the region after the downfall of the Ayyubid rule. However some ups and downs in the relations between the Muslims and the Christians continued in later period. Subsequently the areas of Beirut, Safad and Jerusalem were recaptured by the Franks where, for some time, they established their rule. Al-Kamil a successor of Salah al-Din Ayyubi, during his rule, stood firmly against these Franks ans surprised them by defeating them severely and re-capturing some areas. During the rule of his successor al- Malik al- Salih the sixth crusade war was fought in 1249 in which the crusading army was headed by the Frank ruler, Luis IX. This war also proved to be a failure of the crusaders as its leader Luis IX and many Christian nobles were made captive by the Ayyubid army under al- Salih.31 The final war against the crusaders, as mentioned above, was started under Mamluks when one of their rulers, al- Malik al- Zahir Baybers (1260 – 1277) started a series of campaigns against the remaining crusading states. These Muslim campaigns continued under many of his successors. As a result of these encounters one area after the other came under Muslim control. Qalawun (1279 – 1290) and his son Ashraf (1290 – 1293) proved to be the last Mamluk rulers and successors of Baybers who drove out the crusaders completely from the Muslim land. The fall of Jerusalem in 1187 to the Muslim hands proved to be the final disaster for the crusaders.32 Al- Akka was the last stronghold of these Christian crusaders and with its conquest in 1291 the era of crusade wars ended.33

Notes and References:

1 Prof. Masudul Hasan, History of Islam (Revised Edition), 2002, New Delhi: Adam Publishers and Distributers, Vol. I, p. 69 2 Ibid., p. 71 3 Maulana Akbar Shah Khan Najeebabadi, History of Islam (tr. & ed. by Ateequr Rahman Uganwi), 2007, New Delhi: Adam Publishers and Distributers, Vol. I, p. 317 4 Sayyid Fayyaz Mahmood, A Short History of Islam, 1960, Karachi: Oxford University Press, p. 40 5 Prof. Masudul Hasan, op. cit., p. 110 and Maulana Akbar Shah Khan Najeebabadi, op. cit., p. 453 6 Maulana Akbar Shah Khan Najeebabadi, op. cit., pp. 495-497 7 P. K. Hitti, , (tenth edition), 2002, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 161 8 K. Ali, A Study of Islamic History, 2011, New Delhi: Adam Publishers and Distributers, p. 121 9 Prof. Masudul Hasan, op. cit., pp. 121-122 10 P. K. Hitti, op. cit., p. 199 11 K. Ali, op. cit., p. 157; Sayyid Fayyaz Mahmood, op. cit., p. 71 12 Sayyid Fayyaz Mahmood, op. cit., p. 77 13 Kahina who claimed to be a magician, surrounded around her a large number of Berber followers. She and her followers stood as a force against the Muslim occupation of North Africa 14 Sayyid Fayyaz Mahmood, op. cit., pp. 78-81; Maulana Akbar Shah Khan Najeebabadi, op. cit., Vol II, pp. 207-209 15 P. K. Hitti, op. cit., p. 549, Sayyid Fayyaz Mahmood, op. cit., p. 194 16 Ibid., p. 298 17 Sayyid Fayyaz Mahmood, op. cit., p. 105 18 P. K. Hitti, op. cit., p. 300 19 Ibid., p. 602

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20 Prof. Masudul Hasan, op. cit., p. 588; P. K. Hitti, op. cit., pp. 604-605 21 Yahya Armajani and Thomas M. Ricks, Middle East: Past and Present (Second Edition),1986, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, p.99 22 Ibid. p. 101 23 P. K. Hitti., op. cit., p. 636 24 Kenneth M. Setton, (Editor-in-Chief), A History of the Crusades, 1955, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 254 25 P. K. Hitti., op. cit., pp. 643 – 644; Sayyid Fayyaz Mahmood, op. cit., p. 227 26 Sayyid Fayyaz Mahmood, op. cit., p. 228 27 P. K. Hitti., op. cit., p. 648 28 Aziz S. Atiya, Crusade, Commerce and Culture, 1962, London: Oxford University Press, p. 79 29 Ibid 30 P. K. Hitti, op. cit., p.651 31 Ibid., p. 654 32 Kenneth M. Setton, op. cit., p. 590 33 P. K. Hitti, op. cit., p. 658

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